PHL should also aim for milk self-sufficiency – Villar

MANILA – Senator Cynthia Villar said on Wednesday achieving self-sufficiency in milk should also be a priority in the agriculture sector because of its potential to increase farmers’ income and to address malnutrition in the countryside.

Villar noted that milk production is very low as it is only a mere one percent of the demand for milk.

“We should keep on looking at programs that will help improve our dismal milk production. Other industry players can follow the lead of the Philippine Carabao Center and look for foreign grants that will fund the construction of modern facilities and acquisition of relevant equipment to hasten production efficiency,” she said.

She also stressed the need for the dairy industry to “level up, especially now that regional economic cooperation under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has started last year already.”

Villar also suggested to dairy cooperatives to host milk-feeding programs in schools in their communities and aim for one cooperative for each of the 1,600 municipalities to provide livelihood to farmers and at the same time address malnutrition among our school children in the countryside.

Villar, an advocate of livelihood generation and job creation, was particularly interested in the progress of small milk producing sector composed of smallholder producers, which continue to grow significantly.

She also cited the Philippine Carabao Center for its commitment to support the growth and development of smallholder farming communities as well as farming families in the area of knowledge sharing, technical services, post-harvest support, product development, marketing, among others. It helps small scale dairy farmers by giving them an opportunity to access commercial market and increase their income.